I have a grade 2/3 bladder prolapse which i have lived with for a year since the birth of my third child but it has suddenly got worse. Now I feel constant dragging, discomfort and most of all, psychological distress!!! I am only 30 but I REALLY want the surgery to fix this - has anyone had this done, anterior repair I think? I feel too young to be in this positon, it's scary!!!Please give me some advice, ps I don't think pessaries are the solution for me - I can't bear the thought of fishing around down there all the time!!!

Sorry I can't be of much help, but a number of years ago I had two older (40's and 50's) work friends have this done and I remember someone else had had one when they were much younger too after some pregnancies. It seemed like it was pretty serious surgery that took some time to recover. But they really needed it so it was worth it.

If you feel you need it, definitely pursue it and get some Dr's advice on risks and advantages.

Thanks for the help, I have now got an appointment to see the consultant and get booked in for surgery hopefuly. I have decided to push for the surgery as soon as I can get it but it is quite major and I could still really use any advice anyone has. I am worried about the pain and the recovery time and also about the possibility of having to have further surgey in the future. Part of me thinks why not just go for a whole hysterectomy and get it all out of the way now... what do people think?

That's good. Hopefully the Dr will give you some positive answers. Try to keep your uterus if you can would be my advice, especially since you're still so young. Unless it is really causing you major problems.

I have a grade 2/3 bladder prolapse which i have lived with for a year since the birth of my third child but it has suddenly got worse. Now I feel constant dragging, discomfort and most of all, psychological distress!!! I am only 30 but I REALLY want the surgery to fix this - has anyone had this done, anterior repair I think? I feel too young to be in this positon, it's scary!!!Please give me some advice, ps I don't think pessaries are the solution for me - I can't bear the thought of fishing around down there all the time!!!

My suggestion: Don't have surgery unless you have to. I am in the same position like you and don't want surgery. Anything under the knife have a risk and sometimes side effects.

Here's the update - saw surgeon yesterday, turns out I need anterior AND posterior repair (lucky me!) which I am pleased to say has been scheduled for April 8th.
Also, he thinks the reason I am in so much pain is scar tissue adhesions from my c section 6 years ago. So I also need a laporoscopic procedure to fix that. I feel massive relief that this is going to get sorted out but am VERY anxious about the surgery.
Still would like to hear any experiences anyone might have had...

Had surgery 7 days ago. I had anterior and posterior repair and also a diagnostic laporoscopy. Very little pain from the major surgery but was extremely sore from the laporoscopy.

I am utterly heartbroken that the repair job has FAILED!!! I can't describe my dissapointment after going through all of that, and my husband being off work to look after me etc. I've been so careful, more or less on bed rest but my prolapse is as bad as it was before.

I know that the first attempt at this type of surgery is the best chance the surgeon will ever have. Where do I go from here? I think now at the age of thirty I might be consigned to live with this affliction for the rest of my life. What on earth do I do?

I wrote my first response after reading your first posting on this thread ..did not realise you had already had the surgery and are now worried about it having failed. I hope you are wrong, perhaps it is just post surgery swelling? Let the doctor have a look and maybe he will reassure you that it was not a failure. It would be trrible to have it all done for nothing ...

I have a grade 2/3 bladder prolapse which i have lived with for a year since the birth of my third child but it has suddenly got worse. Now I feel constant dragging, discomfort and most of all, psychological distress!!! I am only 30 but I REALLY want the surgery to fix this - has anyone had this done, anterior repair I think? I feel too young to be in this positon, it's scary!!!Please give me some advice, ps I don't think pessaries are the solution for me - I can't bear the thought of fishing around down there all the time!!!

I had my bladder tied up during my hysterectomy. The urologist said I didn't need it but in a couple of yrs I would be back because with my uterus gone my bladder would fall. If you have had a baby vaginally, that is how I would describe how I felt. My hysterectomy was vaginal also. Dr. also found after he got in to do hysterectomy that my rectum had fallen into my vagina so I guess that is a recocele?

Had surgery 7 days ago. I had anterior and posterior repair and also a diagnostic laporoscopy. Very little pain from the major surgery but was extremely sore from the laporoscopy.

I am utterly heartbroken that the repair job has FAILED!!! I can't describe my dissapointment after going through all of that, and my husband being off work to look after me etc. I've been so careful, more or less on bed rest but my prolapse is as bad as it was before.

I know that the first attempt at this type of surgery is the best chance the surgeon will ever have. Where do I go from here? I think now at the age of thirty I might be consigned to live with this affliction for the rest of my life. What on earth do I do?

Why did it fail? Why wouldn't the Dr. make sure it was done right. I am not trying to be smart. I don't understand how it can fail. Thanks for any info.

I am having a similar surgery on June 8, I'll be back here posting abut the surgery and the recovery time. It is scary but better than the constant pressure, etc. I was told to expect 2 or 3 nights in the hospital.

Why did it fail? Why wouldn't the Dr. make sure it was done right. I am not trying to be smart. I don't understand how it can fail. Thanks for any info.

Jill

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Hi,

The bulge and the feeling of something falling out that were my symptoms before are still there. I can feel my bladder is still hanging down, this is devastating for me. I had a really bad tummy, like running to the toilet a lot for a few days after the surgery so I can only guess this might have put a strain on the stitches. But It felt wrong from day one.

The surgeon had assured me that it had gone well. So who knows? I will continue to post updates on this but my only options as far as I can see are to either live with this or go for the op again

I think you have another option--go get a second and third opinion. Make sure that this doctor in fact did the procedure correctly.

I think you need to relax and let yourself heal a little. Maybe with a little recuperation time, you will begin to feel better and your body will have a chance to heal. At that point if you still feel like this procedure was a failure, than get some other opinions.

five weeks post op. I must say the whole experience was extrememly positive. The hospital was lovely, I had very little pain from the cystocele repair (the only pain was from the laporoscopy which was pretty sore)

Now I feel back to normal, fully fit except with an extra few pounds of weight!!! All that remains to be seen is whether it was worth it. A couple of weeks ago I felt as if the op had done nothing for me. Now I think have noticed that my bladder feels slightly higher than it was. It still bulges slightly but not as badly as before.

Going for a follow up appointment in a week's time, will post again after x

I am posting this for those of you having to look toward this surgery. Before I had the surgery, I could find nothing anywhere that told you what to expect, how long the recuperation was, what the pain level was or anything that would put my mind at ease. All I read were horror stories about what went wrong. To that I would say RESEARCH ... research the procedure, especially the surgeon you choose to do your surgery. I chose a doctor at Virginia Urology who has chosen to specialize in this area. I did not choose my gyno although she strongly urged me to have the surgery done with them. My thinking was that I wanted a surgeon that did this every day, specialized in this area, and one that didn't deliver babies one day and do sling surgery the next.

In 2000, I developed breast cancer; a hysterectomy followed in 2002. I was told the hysterctomy, the fact that I couldn't take estrogen when I really needed it after the hysterectomy, had had 3 vaginal births with babies 8 pounds or more (all forcep deliveries) helped create my cystocele. Four months ago, I had begun a strict regime with a trainer at my local gym. I am 53 and otherwise pretty healthy.

In any event, I developed the cystocele which was very, very uncomfortable. I never developed incontinence, which my surgeon told me was unusual, but I had uncomfortable pressure at night particularly after along day of lifting anything. I also had trouble with slow moving urination. Interestingly, I had the eurodynamics test pre-surgery because my surgeon believes in finding out everything he can before he even things about surgery. That test showed that I actually would leak if the eurethra was in the right position and would be after putting the bladder back into place. So, added to my cystocele surgery was the TVT sling. I would strongly suggest having this test prior to surgery so you don't have the cystocele corrected only to find you now "leak." Like I said, I never had before ...

I had the surgery one week ago, and my reason for the post is to give some insight into what you can expect with cystocele and sling surgery.

The surgery was approximately 3 hours, and the majority of the pain is in the legs from being in a position your body would otherwise never be in for 3 hours. It's very uncomfortable from that standpoint but certainly tolerable.

The cystocele/sling pain is very much like the feeling you have after delivery. Lots of pressure and just very uncomfortable in any position. Today, one week out, I believe I've hit a turning point in the pain. I took Toridol (the grandaddy to Tylenol) in the hospital the first day and night. I did take Percocet the next day after I arrived home, however. I guess just the trip home and doing more walking made the pain a little worse. Running to the bathroom tons of times after the catheter was taken out was a problem, too. I did use the bathroom at the hospital, so I was allowed to go home without the Foley catheter but found once at home, I was going every 5 minutes just trickling.

One little tip: Although no one told me to, I used an ice pack between my legs several times during this week, and that seems to help. A "nurse friend" told me to keep taking Ibuprofen to try to reduce the swelling, which is really the source of the pain for the most part. She had had the surgery and that was a great tip.

There are also two rather large bumps on the inside of either leg where the sling is attached with stitches, which is a little weird ... I also noticed lots of bruising there.

I don't have a horror story to tell, but one that I hope will help someone searching for answers about pain and healing and what to expect after surgery. I have my first post-op tomorrow to measure the amount of urine (with ultrasound) left after I use the bathroom. I then see him in 6 weeks for an examination to see how well the mesh is healing and the sling is holding up.

I have read alot about what you can and can't do from here on out. Although I'm being very careful not to do anything for 6 weeks, I intend to resume my exercise program with my trainer -- on a modified level. I was told by the nurse that the tissue that was repaired can break down again in time if you continue to lift heavy things. So, I will talk to my trainer and come up with a regime that does not include heavy weights. I want to avoid a reoccurence any sooner than it would normally return. Hopefully, I will be able to manage it without a reoccurrence if I'm smart :-)